Two posts this evening because I failed to get to Friday’s events until now. So, two days down on the res….

Here are two paintings, one from Friday and the other from Sunday, now ensconced in my studio. Both were done at the Eastside Plating Plant, Building 5. Both were done plein air. On Friday I only began to freeze when I stopped painting. Sunday, I had a choice of sun and wind or no wind, no sun. Unfortunately I chose the one that unerringly moves — the sun. When the wind, which I was resigned to, picked up and flung my brushes onto the pavement and my fingers wouldn’t move properly to pick them up, I knew it was time to leave.

These are studies. These are only studies. These were done under somewhat fraught conditions. They will probably have their faces turned to the wall. But I have learned some things.

JOU, Plant 5, Study 3, draft 1, 16 x 12″, oil on Masonite, 2012

JOU, Plant 5, study 5, draft 1, 16 x 12″, oil on  Masonite, 2012

If you are paying attention, you may have noticed I didn’t show a “Study 4.” You noticed correctly, although a kind of Study 4 is much further along, in the studio, at a much greater size.

Sunday’s  Study 5 required access to a corner of the complex that normally isn’t visible when delivery trucks, workers’ vehicles, and SUVs of various sizes inhabit the parking lot. So I had to grab the view on Sunday while everyone else watched the Superbowl.

Beyond that, that glorious funnel, which is part of the painting above (never mind if you can’t find it — I had trouble myself — first drafts, you know), is the central object of Panel 4, in large, in the studio. The funnel was the object of my first painting of Plant 5, and so it is being enlarged and lovingly worked on.

Observations:

The February wind drops the temperature in very nasty ways.

On Fridays, the 1 PM traffic is much more courteous than the 4 PM traffic.

On Sundays, the traffic is simply eccentric. Pleasantly low but eccentric.

Weekdays, the working stiffs check out the paintings on foot and talk about the weather.

Sundays, the tourists on their way to the waterfront talk about the painting, particularly when they are driving big trucks and viewing it only from their seats. Also they talk a lot when they are lost. Which many seem to be.

I am working hard to learn how to mix and paint dull colors — mud to be precise. It takes all the courage I have.

I am at that point where I think I’m slightly nuts to be painting this hunk of junk.

Or perhaps, this hunk of junk is laughing at me as I try to capture it.

Regardless, I will persevere.  –June